Queenstown

Queenstown, Wanaka’s more built-up, touristy, expensive older brother, was our next stop. It’s known as the adventure capital of the world, and while it is all of the things above, it’s also extremely beautiful, bustling with adventurers, and easy to maneuver. Similar to Wanaka, the town is set on a lake, Lake Wakatipu, whose backdrop is an impressive, jagged mountain range called the Remarkables. On any given day, the lake is occupied by “submersible sharks” (shark-shaped boats that dive underwater and jump into the air) and the sky is dotted with colorful paragliders. Some of our favorites from Queenstown include:

Queenstown Hill Walkway

Close to the city center sits a large hill that you can hike up for some great views of Lake Wakatipu, the Remarkables, and the city itself. It’s a steep hike that we made harder by starting from downtown, rather than the car park situated 500 ft higher than downtown.

Ben Lomond Track

The signature hike of Queenstown, this trail goes from forest, to golden hillside, to rocky mountains, steeply ascending most of the way. There was a gondola available to bring you the first 1,000 ft of elevation, but for $35 per person, we skipped that and took a steep trail that was shared with mountain bikers and passed through a zip line site. We reached the top of that portion of the hike and the area was super built up - there was a cafe, an ice cream shop, and even a luge course! We walked into the cafe to refill our water and a really sweet employee helped us out, filling up our Camelbak and offering us sunscreen. We must’ve looked quite disheveled compared to everyone else who took the gondola up because she dropped what she was doing to help us!

The second portion of the trail was an exposed, winding, grassy road that led up to a saddle. This section wasn’t as hard as we were anticipating, but although we were super thankful it was a beautiful day, the sun shining down on us the whole way was killer! The final push up to the summit was steep rocky terrain. The loose gravel and arduous elevation gain made it particularly tough, but we were rewarded with sweeping views of the surrounding mountain ranges, Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, and country roads. We hung out at the top for a while, enjoying the views, and even saw a kea, an alpine parrot infamous for stealing things out of people’s backpacks and even the rubber off windshield wipers. Fittingly, the kea swooped in and stole someone’s sandwich right out of their bag while they left it unattended (see above)!

We made it back down the trail, jealous of those who got to take the gondola down the last bit, and walked straight to a Queenstown favorite that we had yet to check out - a burger joint called Fergburger. The line is at least 20 people deep at all hours of the day, and after trying it for ourselves, we understood why! We became loyal customers, returning twice more during our time in Queenstown.

We also circled back to Queenstown just a few days ago to go skydiving, amongst some other activities. We lived to tell the tale, and will have a blurb about that adventure in the next round of posts!

For more pictures, check out our Instagram, from_oakland_to_auckland, also linked below!